Saturday, January 30, 2010

2009, In Books

This post is about a month late, but I don't care. I just haven't had any down time lately, but the recent snow has changed that, at least for today.

Here's the list of books I read in 2009:
  1. Night by Elie Wiesel
  2. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
  3. Twilight (all four of them, sadly) by Stephanie Meyer
  4. Guests of the Sheik by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea
  5. The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
  6. River Town by Peter Hessler
  7. The Cry of the Dove by Fadia Faqir
  8. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (hands down the best book I read in '09!)
  9. The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus
  10. Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell
  11. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller (second best of '09)
  12. The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield (least favorite)
  13. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
  14. The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
  15. Sister India by Peggy Payne (second least favorite)
  16. Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
  17. Light Force by Brother Anrew and Al Janssen
  18. Peace Child by Don Richardson (if you love missions at all, read this book!)
  19. The Opium Clerk by Kunal Basul (third least favorite)
  20. There is No Me Without You by Melissa F. Greene (ties for second favorite with #11!)
  21. The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
  22. Dragonfly by Fredric S. Durbin
  23. The Midwife of St. Petersburg by Linda Lee Chaikin
  24. Redeeming Love by Francis Rivers (this was my 3rd attempt, finally did it!)
  25. Tamar by Francine Rivers
So if you count the Twilight series as just one giant book, I read roughly two books per month. This year I'm really looking forward to what's ahead of me! I felt like last year I had to get some of the books I felt obligated to read because I had bought them out of the way. I still haven't read all the books I own, but I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

And may I ask, what's one book you plan to read this year? You know, the one that's been sitting on the shelf, staring you in the face. Mine is this:

Fact: This book is 1349 pages long and it may weigh more than my cat. Behemoth!

2 comments:

Peggy Payne said...

Well, I'm pleased to be on your list, Emily, with my novel Sister India, even though it was your second least favorite.

What bugged you about it?

Emily said...

Ms Payne,

I must say reading your comment on my blog was the last thing I expected when I checked my emails this evening! To be honest, I’m a little embarrassed, but I guess that’s what I get for thoughtlessly rating things on a public blog.

Sister India came recommended to me by a friend who thoroughly enjoyed each page. I have never been to India but for some reason have a warm place for it in my heart. Naturally I will read anything I can get my hands on pertaining to its people, cities, customs, etc. I’m sure you’ve read this in many reviews, but as far as India goes, and your description of the life and color and smell of the city, this novel lacks nothing. If anything I feel like I came out of it knowing this foreign place even better than I had a the beginning. (And wanting to travel there all the more as well!)

To tell you what “bugged” me about it would be difficult, mainly because I feel like my reasoning is so lame. I’m just a twenty-something nobody from Kentucky, and let’s bear that in mind. That said my biggest beef with this book is that Natraja was such an intimidating character I became uncomfortable around her. I found myself avoiding this book for days because I just couldn’t take it! She seemed so hopeless, and it made me sad for her, because, as you revealed through her back story, she wasn’t always that way. As a reader, my feelings for Natraja totally affected my outlook on the rest of the story. As the author, I can imagine you would talk some pride in knowing that this character you developed was so strong as to even evoke these feelings in me!

I suppose take this for what it’s worth. Again, I don’t claim to be a literary critic. What I disliked about this book was on a completely personal level as far as how I interacted with the main character. I’m just a girl with a love for books and I definitely don’t feel like reading Sister India was a waste of time. I really appreciate your question. It has given me the opportunity to revisit your work and to pinpoint exactly what about it got to me.

Cheers!
e.